Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1990's

Jim on that las t lap and we were p opp in g the horns a nd just makin g sure Honda had so me thing to celebra te." Some more good PR from Ru tter, then! The Rl chall en ge just di dn't happen, a lt ho ug h Jefferi es' ride shou ld not be over looked . Jackson and Paul Hunt did brin g Rl s into fif th a nd six th, but all admitted it was too mu ch to han g on to the speed of the CBRs. So in a race where Ho nd a may have ex pected to b e bea te n , the company actually wo n its l00th Tf even t. SE NIORTf The open Senior event is basica lly a Formu la Libre - that is, anyt hing goes race . Trad itionally the race is d ominated by the 750cc su perbikes, but in the last two yea rs we have had a' smattering of 500cc Gra nd Prix mac hi nes which have ad ded to the spectacle and in many peo ple's eyes mad e this eve nt the biggest of the week. t Dry condition s pr evailed once more, 0 an d 1 and beh old, we were going to get a fu ll six-lap race. Mood ie switched to th e Padgetts team to ri d e th e NS R Vt win , a n d w a s jo ine d o n si m ilar mach ines by Laugh er and McGuiness. Davies lined up aboa rd an ag ing HarrisYamaha YZR of John Reynolds vin tage . Mu ch was expected of all the 500s. Inevitably, thou gh, it was the Honda Britain bo ys, Rutter and Simpson, who mad e th e ea rly headw a y. The fo rmer was in front of his teammate by 10 seconds at the end of the open ing lap, and coming within five seconds of that ou tright course record to boot. This Senior Tf was livin g up to its billin g. Mood ie in th e meantim e was running a steady third, just three seconds b ack o n Simps on. Courtne y, having another fine outing on the third Hon da Britain RC45, was fou rth, just ahead of Beck and a cert ain Mr. Jackson . Now, here lay the story of the race. Ja ck s on wa s ridin g an ag ing Z XRR Kawasaki for Irish print magn ate Wins to n McAdd o . H e h ad ga m bled o n u s in g a hu ge, ove rs ized tank (as th e rul es for this race permit) in order to d o jus t one pit stop as opposed to everyone e lse's tw o. Despite th e inc re as ed fu el load, Jackson was on ly 36 seconds off the lead at the end of that first tour. By the end of lap two, Jackson was up to fourth overall, while Rutt er maintained a lead of 12 seconds ov er Simpso n. "Si m rno " in turn w a s no w ju st three-tenths of a seco nd ahea d of Mood ie, w ho was s lo w ly uppin g h is pa ce . Jackson was just 17 seconds back in fourth. Now , while Jackson was of co u rse able to bypass the pits on this particular lap , Rutter e t a l piled in to Gasoline Alley for their first stops: Na tu ra lly , it pl ayed into Jackson's hands. The Kawasak i man was so me 28 second s a head of Si m pso n a t G len Helen o n lap th re e . Mo od ie, s till in tou ch, was anot her five seconds back. . Mea nwhile, Rutter ha d hit trouble and was slipping down the order. "I hit a bump very har d on Bray Hill at the start of lap three and I got a pun cture," Rutt er later exp lained . Despit e event ua lly co mp leti ng the lap, Ru tter had lost so much time tha t he eventually finished in 13th pla ce. Up at the sharp end , however, it was Jackso n's turn to pit . As he com p leted the lap he was half a m inut e ahead of Simpson, with Moodie still han gin g on in third. Everyone else was by this time in a sepa ra te race for the minor p lacings. Unfortunately for the 40-year-old (-plus ) Jackson, the chan ce to win his first Tf in 17 yea rs of tryi ng we nt awry at his pit sto p. After su ccessfu lly refilling the huge tank, his pit crew was unable to get the cap sea led back in pla ce. Jackson lost an a d di tio n a l 40 seco n ds an d the r a ce see med lost. By Glen Hel en on lap four, Jackson was down in sixth place. His only solace was that at least Simpson and Moodie wo u ld have to sto p again for fuel at the end of the fourth lap. Moodie had indeed closed to wi thin a seco n d o f Simpson w hen di saster struck the V-twin on Sulby Straight on lap four. "It just se ized ," ex p la ine d Moodie . "No warning , non e a t all." With Jackson 's misfortune, and Rutter and Moodie' s effective d emise, th e lead erboard had a d iffer ent look as the leaders came in to refuel at the end of the fou rth lap. Simpson see ming ly had a co m fo r tab le lead of 29 secon ds over Courtney. This informati on was passed o n b y h is pit cre w durin g th e s to p (which they w ould very nearly regret com e the end of the race). Laugh er, now ge tting used to his V-rwi n 500, was up to third, just six seco nds beh ind Cou rtney . Je ff erie s was h a vin g a no the r in cred ible race in fourth pla ce aboard a Yamaha Rl powerbike. Jackson, mean. while, was up to fifth. We waited eage rly to hear the sp lit section times from Glen Helen on that fifth lap. Unbelievably, Jackson had ridden his way back into the hu nt, just nine seconds back from Sim pson. How had Jackson managed to pull back so mu ch time? t Simpson la te r exp lained : "Whe n I came in for my last pit sto p, they (his pit crew) told me that I had a big lead and tha t Jackson was out - so 1 eased rig ht off. Well, they go t tha t wrong!" As th ey wen t in to th ei r fi n al lap, Sim pson led by jus t five seconds fro m Jackson. Laughe r s till held third over Cou rtney. - ' At Ramsey on the final lap, Jackson was incredibly ahead. Would Honda be d efea ted at the final hou r? The ans:-ver, unfortunat el y for Jackson, was to be in the negative. Sim pson put in one of h is now- famou s last-lap effor ts over the Mountain and cla ime d victory by four seco nds . "I cou ld n' t believe the sig na ls 1 was getting w hic h told me I w as down to seco nd ," Simpson sai d . "I kne w I had to push that little bit mor e over the Mountai n. We go t there in the end. It's grea t to en d th e week on a hig h for Honda a nd me . We've a ll worked so ha rd to , achieve this." Jackson was incon solable whe n told he had just" missed ou t on that maid en ' Tf win. "I am d evastated , I can tell you ," he said. "We ha d the race in the bag and we couldn' t ge t the petro l cap back on. Then on the last lap, the (exha us t) pipe came awa y from its ho ld and was dragging a lo ng t he floor . I ve ry nea rl y packed it in. 1 just d on 't think that 1 am meant to wi n her e." Courtney rou nded off a fine wee k by cla im in g h is second po di u m position after Laughe r's norm al ru n of bad luck re turned w he n th e elec trics on the Vtwin packed up on the Mou nt ain on the final lap. And so ended anot her Tf meeting . The TTimes they are a-changin' T he IT continues to give mor e credence to Classic rallies and the like in between the actual racing. Honda, as part of its SO-year anniversary celebrations, brought a host of past World Champion riders and machines to the event. 0cc Freddie Spencer, on his 1985 three-cylinder, and Jim Redman, on his 1962 2S Honda six, led one parade away on their resp ecti ve wo rld -ti tle-w inning mac hines. Behind them ther e was a host of forme r Honda Grand Prix bikes from the 1960s ridden by the likes of Tommy Robb, Ralph Bryans, Stuart Gra ham , Kunim its u Taka has hi and Nao mi Tanaguichi. Jean Claude Chemarin was outon his 1982 Honda Elf endurance machine, while Alex Viera rode a similar bike. Somewha t biza rrely , we had som e morerecent Grand Prix and IT champions on road bikes, such as Sito Pons, Dirk Raudies and Ron Haslam. It seemed odd to see three such distinguished champions riding round on stre t bike in the company e s of such exotic racing machinery. (Left)J im Redman s its atop his champions hip-winning Honda 250cc s ix. He was part of a parade of historic mach ines - and riders - tha t Included threetime World Champion Freddie Spencer (above) on his 500cc triple. Part of the nearly 4G-mlle lap is the Mountain. It was heavy fog in this area that cancelled racing on the first day of the IT week. H ond a ce r ta in ly s to le th e he adlines. And good lu ck to th em , too, for they alone cont inue to back this famo us (bu t argua b ly d y in g ) e ve nt. H o w mu ch lon ger will Honda see reward in effectively racing them selves? Hopefully the ot he r manufacturers w ill heed Simon Beck's call for more factory help. Then again, w ho w ill be around to ride for them? Alrea dy Micha el Rutter has hinted that he will not return to the Tf in the foreseeable future, as he wis hes to progress into Worl d Superbike. If yo u ng riders lik e Rutter d eser t the Tf now a nd all we are left with are 35- to 40 -year-o ld (a nd older) rid ers - w ith res pect, wha t d oes th at say abo ut th e eve nt ? Old and decaying, perhaps. l~ is le of Man IT Isle of M England an, Results : J une 6-14, 1998 F1: 1. Ian Simpson (He n ): Z. Micha e l Ruther (Bon): 3. James Co u rtney (H o nk 4. Simo n Beck (Ka w ): 5 . ja son G riffiths (He n): 6. Dav e Morri s (Dud , T im e: 1 hr ., 16 mi n., 15.6 sec . Di stance: 4 lap s. 150.92 m iles Average speed: 118.74 mph Margin o f vi ctory: 2.2 SC'C . Futes t lap: Ian Sim pso n, 18:21.7/1 23.28 mph Z5O: 1. Joey Dunlup (Hon]: 2. Bob Jackso n (Yam); 3. Jo hn M cGu i n nl'SS (H en ): 4. Jam es Cou rt ney (H en ): S. Jason Gri ffiths (He n ): 6. Gav in Lee (Yam). Time : 46 m in.• 51.8 sec . D istance: 2 laps , 75.46 m iles Ave rage speed: 96.61 mph Ma rgin of victory: 42.9 sec . Fastest la p: Joey Du nlo p, 22:31.4/1 00.50 m ph 125: 1. Robe rt: Dunlo p (Hon): 2. Ia n Lou ghcr (Ho n): 3. Owen McN all y (He n ): 4. Cary Long (Hen): 5. Ga ry Dynes (Ho n): 6. Ca rry Bennet t (He n). T im e: 1 hr ., 3 min .• 50.3 sec . D istance: 3 laps , 113.19 m iles Ave rag e speed: 106.38 mph Margin of victory: 1 7. 9 ~. Fas te st la p: Ian Lougher , 21:3.1/ 107.53 mph SGL IT: I. Da v id Morris (BMW); 2. Jim Moo d ie (Ho n): 3. Mick Jeffrey s (Spo ); 4. Robert Pri ce (Ka w): 5. Terry McG inty (Suz) ; 6. Keith Dixo n (See). Ti me: 1 hr., 3 mi n., 11.2 Sl-'C. Distan ce: 3 la ps , 113.19 miles Average speed : 107.4Hmp h Margin of vict ory: 19.2 Sl'C. Fastest la p: D av id Morris, 20:38.4/109.68 mph 600: I. Mic hael Ru tter (Hen): 2. Ian Sim pso n (Ho n): 3. Pa l Ded ma n (Ho n): 4. Bob Jac kson (Hon): 5. Chris Hea th (H e n): 6. Jim Moodie (Hen). Ti m e: 59 min., 22.7 sec . Di sta nce : 3 laps, 113.19 mile s Average speed : 114.37 m p h Margin of victory: 6.7 sec. Fas test lap : Jim Moodie, 19:6.3 / 118.49 m p h PROD: 1. Jim Moodie (Ho n): 2. N igel Da vies (K.1w ); 3. Michael Ru tte r IH o n): 4. Da v id Iefferie (Ya m ); 5. Bob s Jackso n (Yam) : 6. Pa u l Hunt (Y.l m) . Ti me: 56 min ., 58.7 sec . Distance : 3 1 'lps. 113.19 m iles Average spe ed: 120.70 m p h Margin of vic tory: 29 sec . Fast est lap: Jim Moodie, 18:45.3 / 120.70 mp h S R TT: 1. Ian Simpson (Hen): 2. Bob Jackso n (Kaw): 3. Ia mes Co u rtney (H o n): 4. Da v id Jeff eri es (Ya m); 5 . J.lson Gri ffiths (H o n): 6. N ige l Da vies (Ya m ). Ti me: I hr., 53 mln., 23.1 sec, Distance: 6 la ps, 226.38 m ites Ave rage speed: 119.79 mph Ma rgin o f v ictory:'3.7 sec . Fastes t la p: Micha el Rutter, 18:23.9 /1 23.04 mph .. .. ~ t:..: en ~ ~ 39

• Cover